Teen video app TikTok is the latest battlefield in the Kashmir conflict - MIT Technology Review
▻https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614147/a-teen-video-app-is-the-latest-battlefield-in-the-kashmir-conflict
Kovind’s move delivered on a promise from India’s general elections in May, in which Narendra Modi of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, was elected prime minister (constitutional orders like this one can only be carried out by the appointed president). But it’s having unintended consequences. Outside Kashmir, social media has been buzzing about Article 370, and Google searches for terms like “kashmir girl,” kashmiri girl,” and “kashmiri girl pic” have spiked.
It’s not that Article 370 banned non-Kashmiris or Hindus from marrying Kashmiris, who are predominantly Muslim. But it did make it impossible for the children of such marriages to inherit land—an effort to preserve Kashmiri autonomy in the region. Without Article 370, anyone can own land there.
That’s where the search term “Kashmiri girls” comes in. Its use began to climb on July 28, as tensions began brewing between the Indian and Kashmiri governments. By the time communication was shut down in the region, it was spiking on Google Trends.
Why? Hindu nationalists are using the term to suggest that since the law does not inhibit Indians from owning land in the region, it would be possible for men to marry Kashmiri girls and women—perhaps even against their will (unfortunately not unheard-of in some localities)—and become landowners. The endgame appears to be to turn the majority-Muslim region majority-Hindu.
And it’s a surprisingly widespread phenomenon. Declarations of intent to marry Kashmiri women to “reclaim” the disputed region are popping up across a variety of social platforms, from Facebook to Twitter to the fast-growing TikTok, which as of April had around 120 million active users in India. Huffington Post India chronicled one user’s videos since the end of Article 370. They show him and some friends planning to go to Kashmir, “since I am not getting women in Delhi.”
The comments show both the misogyny and the racism in how the situation is playing out on social media. The mentality recalls that seen in the sometimes violent, largely online group of people in the US who identify as “incels”: They can’t get women in India, so why not lay claim to light-skinned women, plus land and religious superiority in the bargain?
It’s the latest episode in what’s been a bumpy ride since TikTok, then known as Musical.ly, first launched in India a little less than a year ago. At first, it got traction among users who liked to lip-synch to Bollywood tunes. But in early April, just a few weeks before the election, TikTok was banned after a court ruled it contained “pornographic” content and exposed children to sexual predators. The company responded by removing videos. By April 18, the Supreme Court of India had ordered the ban removed from Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store.
What ultimately is making TikTok so attractive for disseminating hate, then, is exactly what makes users love it in the first place: an easy interface, short-video capabilities, and a platform on which all ideas can spread like wildfire.